In just two short days,Star Trek Beyondwill hit theaters, the third adventure since directorJ.J. Abramsrebooted thefranchisewith the 2009 movie, and the 2013 sequelStar Trek Into Darkness. Ever since this movie series was rebooted, a point of contention for many fans is thatWilliam Shatner, the original Captain Kirk from the groundbreakingStar TrekTV series, was never brought back for a cameo appearance, even thoughLeonard Nimoyhas returned as Spock. During a new interview, producerJ.J. Abramsrevealed that fans will likely never seeWilliam Shatnerin this new version of theStar Trek timeline.
The Toronto Sunspoke withJ.J. Abrams, who remained on as a producer onStar Trek BeyondwhileJustin Lintook over as director. The producer revealed that he has heard several pitches throughout the years about how to bringWilliam Shatnerback into this timeline, but nothing has worked so far. Here’s what he had to say.
“Obviously it’sStar Trek, nearly anything is possible. There’s the fairly simple notion that on the day Kirk was born another timeline began. But in the other timeline, Kirk died onscreen (in Generations). I don’t know how he would come back unless we went into this other reality and we did a timeline and reality jump. In all the years we’ve been working on this, I’ve yet to hear a pitch that didn’t sound too contorted and contrived for an audience to swallow. And I’ve talked to him (Shatner) about it. If Kirk had lived there’d be an answer. But there’s something about his having died that makes it impossible.”
As you may well know,William Shatnerhas been quite outspoken in the past about not being cast in any of the reboot movies. At one point, whenJ.J. Abramssigned on to directStar Wars: The Force Awakens,Shatnereven called the filmmaker a “franchise pig,” saying he thinks that the filmmaker not casting him yet is “foolhardy.” Still,J.J. Abramsdid say that “anything is possible,” so perhaps we may seeWilliam Shatner’s Captain Kirk in the future.
It’s also worth noting that, just a few days ago, Paramount Pictures confirmed thatStar Trek 4is happening, withChris Hemsworth, who made his feature film debut in the firstStar Trekas James Tiberius Kirk’s father, George Kirk, set to return in this sequel. George Kirk died in the opening scenes of the firstStar Trekreboot, but inStar Trek 4, he will reportedly reunite with his son James Kirk. It’s clear that there will certainly be some sort of time travel element inStar Trek 4, which could alter the current timelines and open the door forWilliam Shatnerto be cast as a future version of Captain Kirk, much like howLeonard Nimoywas portrayed as a future version of Spock.
Still, we don’t exactly know how the time travel elements of this story will play out yet, but hopefully we’ll learn more soon.Chris Pine,Zachary Quinto,Zoe Saldana,Simon Pegg,John ChoandKarl Urbanare expected to return, withJ.D. PayneandPatrick McKayset to write the screenplay for this new Star Trek sequel. J.J. Abrams and Lindsey Weber will produce through Bad Robot Productions. We’ll keep you posted with any updates aboutWilliam Shatner’s future in theStar Trekfranchise as soon as we have more information.
